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The Lexpert CCCA Corporate Counsel Directory & Yearbook is a joint endeavour of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association and Lexpert. It provides the most extensive listing of corporate counsel in Canada.

Appeal court to consider privacy tort

The Ontario Court of Appeal will soon have an opportunity to decide the vexing question of whether the common law recognizes the existence of a tort for invasion of privacy.

Because PIPEDA doesn’t apply to individuals, the defendant will go free in the absence of a common law tort, says Christopher Du Vernet.

The opportunity comes on an appeal from the December 2010 judgment of Superior Court Justice Kevin Whitaker in Jones v. Tsige. Christopher Du Vernet of Du Vernet Stewart in Mississauga, Ont., who represents plaintiff Sandra Jones, says the case has been making waves in legal circles.

“We’ve had calls from about a dozen other lawyers who have cases with similar issues out there. It’s hard to say when the appeal will be heard because I don’t know if this case will be heard with others. There may also be interventions, and that will slow the process down.”

The case arose when Winnie Tsige, who worked at a different Bank of Montreal branch than Jones, accessed her colleague’s personal banking records on 174 occasions over four years. Tsige had been in a relationship with Jones’ former husband and became involved in a financial dispute with him.

She acknowledged having accessed Jones’ records for personal reasons, largely because of a desire to ascertain whether the husband had been paying child support to her. Tsige apologized and accepted discipline amounting to a five-day suspension and a loss of her annual bonus.

In the meantime, Jones sued Tsige for the tort of breach of privacy. Both parties moved for summary judgment.

But Alex Cameron of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, the lawyer for Tsige who declined comment to Law Times, had argued that a 2005 appeal court decision in Euteneier v. Lee established that the tort didn’t exist in Ontario.

Euteneier involved the privacy expectations of a prisoner in a jail cell who had attempted to commit suicide but whose counsel conceded on appeal that there was no tort of invasion of privacy. In acknowledging it, the Court of Appeal appeared to indicate that the concession reflected the law.

Euteneier “properly conceded in oral argument before this court that there is no ‘free standing’ right to dignity or privacy under the Charter or at common law,” the court wrote.

Whitaker took this remark as binding upon him and dismissed Jones’ claim. As he saw it, Jones had a right of complaint against the bank under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

“For this reason, I do not accept the suggestion that Ms. Jones would be without any remedy for a wrong if I were to determine that there is no tort for the invasion of privacy,” Whitaker wrote.

Nor was there a need for common law intervention in this area of law. “Statutory schemes that govern privacy issues are, for the most part, carefully nuanced and designed to balance practical concerns and needs in an industry-specific fashion,” Whitaker added.

Du Vernet, who says Tsige’s conduct amounted to “electronic stalking,” argues Whitaker’s reasoning is flawed. “My client may have a remedy against the bank, but because PIPEDA doesn’t apply to individuals, the perpetrator will go free in the absence of a common law tort,” he says.

“That’s just a licence for someone else to do the very same thing again and flies in the face of 1,000 years of tort law premised on the fact that the wrongdoer is accountable.”

Indeed, Barbara McIsaac of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP says there’s even some uncertainty regarding Jones’ remedies against the bank. “It’s not clear that the bank would be responsible under PIPEDA where, as here, we’re dealing with an individual employee who goes off on a fancy of her own.”

Moreover, damages under PIPEDA are very limited. “Punitive damages might be available if liability arose under a common law tort of invasion of privacy,” McIsaac says. “The law of damages as it relates to PIPEDA has also been very slow developing.”

I think it is time we caught up with the provinces that allow an individual to sue for invasion of privacy. It is getting to the point where nothing is private or secure and the laws seem to favour the criminal. We must make examples of these prying eyes, especially when it comes to health records and finances. I am far from being a lawyer, and am in a situation where no one would like to be, and it is all because we have no one to protect or stand up for the average joe. I think if it is not stopped now everyone will get their turn at being discriminated against and their privacy violated. Sorry for the grammar, just an average guy getting taken advantage of.

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Law Times Poll

Lawyers say that the federal justice minister’s response to recommendations by a House of Commons committee on how to improve legal aid in Canada is disappointing. Is more funding needed beyond what was promised in the recent federal budget?

Yes, the federal government’s response is inadequate given the scope of the issues.

No, the federal government is doing a good job of balancing competing funding demands.